Cubans - Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs and Practices.
Catholicism has been the principal religion of Cuba, although
Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian schools, churches, and missions and
a number of other religious groups also thrived in the prerevolutionary
period. Researchers contend that the Catholic church had less influence
and significance in Cuban society than in many other Latin American
countries, which in part accounts for reduced hostilities during the
period of strong separation between religion and the revolutionary
government (1959-1983). The emergence of liberation theology and Cuban
government recognition of a role for religion in revolutionary society
resulted in improved relations between the churches and the Cuban
government in the latter part of the 1980s.

Afro-Cuban Santería, a syncretic religion that draws on both the
Yoruba and Catholic cultural heritages, is deeply engrained in Cuban
culture and has at least the tacit respect of practitioners of other
religions.

Arts.
Under the revolutionary government, Cuba has expanded the number of
libraries from 100 to 2,000 and of museums from 6 to 250. Workshops and
institutes in music, dance, theater, art, ceramics, lithography,
photography, and film are available to amateurs and professionals in the
200
casas de cultura, A
new film industry and film school have produced internationally
acclaimed works, and several publishing houses, of which the Casa de las
Américas is the best known, have produced and reproduced an
unprecedented number of publications. Political poster art, street
theater, and experimental workplace theaters have been distinctive
contributions of the revolutionary period. The rich Afro-Hispanic
culture, including the traditional
guajiro
(folk) songs and dances, have been emphasized with new vigor since
1959.

Medicine.
Between 1959 and 1964, almost one-half of Cuba's 6,300
physicians left the island, and the United States imposed a trade
embargo that cut off essential medicines. As part of its campaign to
increase the availability of medical care, Cuba has since trained more
than 16,000 doctors. Medical care is completely free and available to
all; Cuba has also sent many physicians and other healthcare workers to
more than twenty-six countries to provide care, training, and biomedical
research. Using the medicalteam approach and emphasizing preventative
health care, the government expanded the former
mutualistas
(health-maintenance organizations) to include urban and rural
polyclinics, more rural hospitals, and extensive neighborhood
health-education and disease-prevention programs. Modern techniques and
equipment available from the socialist bloc improved health-care
delivery dramatically.

The rapid decline in the importation of medicine, equipment, and
pharmaceutical-industry supplies from the former socialist bloc, and the
limited availability of hard currency for purchases created a medical
crisis in 19931994. Shortages of food and chemicals for water treatment
led to outbreaks of diseases, including an optic and paralytic epidemic
that was stemmed only with the help of the international community.
Emphasis on herbal and traditionalist methods of treatment has increased
with the loss of manufactured medications.

Death and Afterlife.
Funeral rituals and beliefs regarding death and afterlife continue to
reflect the combined Santería and Roman Catholic heritage.